Alain Fromager Movies

This tough and gritty French-language crime drama represents the premier installment in a two-part series of features on the life and doings of notorious Gallic hood Jacques Mesrine (1936-1979). Mesrine is played, in both installments, by actor Vincent Cassel, who reportedly underwent massive weight gain and weight loss to convincingly portray the volatile Mesrine at various periods of his life. Director Jean-François Richet begins in 1979, with Mesrine's uncommonly violent death, whereby he and a beautiful young woman are suddenly (and fatally) ambushed by Parisian police not far from Mesrine's place of birth. Richet then flashes back to the Franco-Algerian War of the late '50s and a brutal interrogation undergone by Mesrine. Following a military discharge, Mesrine returns to his parents' suburb of Clichy, where his dad has arranged a pathetic job for him in a lace-making factory. Never one to take humiliation lying down, Jacques perceives burglary, larceny, and racketeering as much-superior options and decides to pursue a life of crime via a "business partnership" with childhood buddy Paul (Gilles Lellouche), who works for mobster Guido (Gérard Depardieu).

As the years pass, Jacques works his way up through the ranks of the underworld; via Paul, he also meets and falls hard for two women: Pigalle streetwalker Sarah (Florence Thomassin), and Sofia (Elena Anaya), a beautiful Spanish woman with whom he cohabitates after doing time in a French prison. Following a brief and unsuccessful attempt to "go straight," Jacques reconnects with Guido, then finds it necessary to escape from France to Canada with his new mistress, Jeanne (Cécile De France). Unfortunately, another prison sentence is waiting for him there, replete with brutal solitary confinement, but the possibility of a daring escape beckons. The second half of the Mesrine saga, entitled Mesrine: L'Énnemi Public No. 1 for French release, followed immediately after and picks up where this installment wraps. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

For 30 years the title eatery has delighted its customers with good family style French cooking, but as with many good things, its time has come and it must close. This semi-autobiographical French drama, adapted from screenwriter/director Laurent Benegui's novel, chronicles the final meal served to 15 loyal patrons on closing day. Amidst affectionate humor and occasional pathos, much attention is paid to the conversations, personal situations, and emotions of the diners and the staff. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Regis Wargnier's epic about French Indochina -- from the years of French colonial imperialism to the days when American presence made itself felt and the country became known as Vietnam -- is a story of romance and separation told through the backdrop of a country in turmoil. The film centers on the relationship of the beautiful and imperious Eliane (Catherine Deneuve), a French rubber-plantation owner, and Camille (Linh Dan Pham), her adopted Indochinese daughter. The mother and daughter are very close until a diffident naval officer, Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez) enters their lives. Eliane is in love with him, but Jean-Baptiste and Camille become attracted to each other and fall in love. Thinking that she is doing Camille a favor, Eliane arranges to have Jean-Baptiste transferred to the far-away Tonkin Islands. But Camille flees the plantation to go to the man she loves. As she travels the country, she gains a greater knowledge and respect for the people of her homeland. When the government tears her from Jean-Baptiste and their infant child and arrests her for crimes against the state, she becomes politicized and becomes a supporter of the communists in the country's civil war. As the country rocks in turmoil, Eliane becomes a personification of France, coolly walking amid her peasant workers, neither bowed nor afraid, grimly looking westward. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this detective and crime comedy, the heir to a large fortune is an unknown, and nobody knows him or where he can be found. An occasional musician, Fred plans to pass himself off as that man. It's a goofy idea, but maybe it will work. However, before he can set up the con properly, he learns that his loser of a brother has, inexplicably, just gotten his first job in years as one of the detectives who is searching for the heir. At one time, the two brothers played together in an amateur rock band, but as a result of a heated disagreement about how to play the Ray Noble standard "Cherokee", the two haven't spoken in years. It's going to take a lot of persuading to pull this scam off. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This easygoing French comedy -- originally and more wittily titled Romuald et Juliette -- is about conservative Parisian yogurt-company CEO named Romuald Blindet (Daniel Auteuil) who by circumstance finds himself drawing closer to his black cleaning woman Juliette Bonaventure (Firmine Richard). A romance soon develops between them. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi